Building a timber-framed step system and boulder wall

By Doug Grove, on June 3rd, 2016

Before

Before

The steep slope along both sides of this home really restricted access to the back yard. That plus the fact that the deep shade that covered the area most of the day made for quite a “slippery slope” when it rained. We built timber framed steps and put in a dark blue dresser trap rock inside the frame. In order to keep any soil or gravel from washing out through the bottom of the timber on to the next step down,we installed a weep barrier (usually of 2×6 treated wood) right underneath each timber step.

The upper lawn originally started to slope down hill at about the corner of the house, where it turned in to weeds and brambles. Our client wanted to neaten up the area and extend the yard, so we brought in several loads of good black dirt and extended the lawn about 230 feet where we constructed a boulder wall where it dropped off.